Monday, June 8, 2009

Alternatives

Today I worked with my iPod on because Mondays are often days when people are on the telephone a lot. Since I normally like to keep my office door open, I find that even putting the earphones on (with no music) is more peaceful than fighting the tendency to listen to what other people are talking about...leaving more productive time to actually do my work.

But honestly...I do have it on most of the time.

Today was "Foo Fighters Monday" for me. I love the music, but sometimes you just appreciate something more when you understand it a little better.

I don't have any inside knowledge or anything...just what I've gathered from reading and not a tremendous amount of that, actually. But, this band - Foo Fighters - has quite an interesting history.

Most people have heard of the band, Nirvana - an alternative grunge band from the 1990's that just totally rocked. The lead singer, Kurt Cobain had some serious chemical abuse problems that eventually took a toll on him and resulted in his suicide in 1994. Frankly, because I thought the music would reflect that craziness, I refused to listen to it. I just enjoyed "around" Nirvana...until recently, that is.

And WHY you may ask?

Well, somewhere I was reading about the Foo Fighters (a band I already liked) and realized that the lead singer and guitarist for Foo Fighters, a guy named Dave Grohl, had formerly been the drummer for Nirvana.

Apparently with all of the touring that Nirvana was doing, he spent some available time writing songs. With the death of Cobain, he was left with several alternatives. He could go down a similar path, he could fold it in and figure out something to do with himself, or he could use what he had to work with and make something totally new.

Thankfully, ol' Dave went with the last option and formed Foo Fighters using the songs he had written while with Nirvana. What you might not know is that he was originally the songwriter, lead vocalist, guitarist, drummer, and everything else on the first album. These days he only maintains the songwriter, singer and guitarist roles and there are other band members. Sometime in 1995, the first album was released and it is next to impossible to figure out when the "band" actually evolved. Even the band's official website isn't terribly clear on that point.

Flash forward fourteen years later (now) and Foo Fighters is currently touring in Europe. The band is still recording, still evolving, and still making the best of the different alternatives that are before them. They have shown differences in the music and its presentation...including putting out an album with both rock and acoustic tracks. They have also toured both ways. Musicians have come and gone in the band...but the music and the evolution continues.

I think sometimes about how we have plans that we think are going to carry us through, and we find that we run into a wall: cancer, death, miscarriage, bankruptcy, infertility, addiction, diagnosis, relocation, cancellation, divorce, incarceration, accident, or many of the others that mark a place that we really don't want to even know exists...much less park our car out front of that particular house of pain and actually reside there awhile.

I think of how Dave Grohl must have felt when he heard that Kurt Cobain was dead...thus ending Nirvana's successful run. What a waste! Just what do you do with that? Well, there are always alternatives.

I think that as Christians, most people feel that any pain or insecurity that comes into our lives is the result of either something we have not done well enough...or because we have done something for which we deserve punishment. Frequently...neither is true.

Sometimes, we will have something removed from us that is working out well, to free us up for the opportunity to have something that He wants for us that is even better than we imagine: recovery, renewal, healing, birth, adoption, growth or reunion. The problem is that often we can't see the forest for the trees.

So...it was goodbye Nirvana...and hello Foo Fighters for Dave Grohl. He had to move on in one way or another. And between us...I'm glad that he did. Because, personally...I prefer the latter to the former.

A few songs that are amazing by this band include: "Learn to Fly" - "Times Like These" - "Everlong" - "The Pretender" - "Let It Die" - "Big Me" - "Long Road to Ruin" and "Best of You." Trust me.

Just remember...more often than not...as we are faced with something in our lives that we didn't expect and certainly don't want...we are also given other alternatives. Sometimes those alternatives allow us to see life in a totally different way than we would have had everything just remained the same.

So, go load some Foo Fighters in your iPod and rock on...Later!

2 comments:

  1. Mrs. Karen,
    I am also a huge fan of the Foo Fighters. I had a friend tell me the other day that she just "couldnt get into that kind of music." I promptly hit her in the face.
    Love,
    Courtney

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  2. Dear Courtney, you did exactly the right thing. She obviously has some serious problems that need correcting. A little Foo should fix that...apparently she just doesn't want the cure. Poor girl...:) K

    P.S. By the way, you cracked me up :)

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